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Fatwa CenterRuling on parents confiscating child's property
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. If I bought a phone with my own money and my mother sometimes gets angry with me and says that she will take my phone, is she entitled Islamically to confiscate my phone, which I bought with my own money? May Allaah reward you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we advise you to endeavor to be kind and dutiful to your mother, fulfill her rights, and avoid what would make her angry as much as possible. Please, refer to fataawa 87856 and 87019.
As regards the ruling of her taking your money, whether it is a phone or anything else, then the majority of the scholars are of the view that the parent is not allowed to take anything from the wealth of their child except when the parent is in need for it while the child does not need it.
The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia reads, “The majority of the scholars of Fiqh held that the parent does not take anything from the money of their child unless they need it.”
However, the Hanbali School of jurisprudence is of the view that the father especially, and not the mother – even if he is not in need – is allowed to take from the money of his child provided that this does not harm the child and the child does not need it, and without doing injustice to the child – on condition that the father does not take it to give it to another child. Al-Mardaawi said in Al-Insaaf, “Note: The mafhoom (the understood meaning which is not explicitly stated) of the statement of the author, Ibn Qudaamah, is that the mother has no right to take from the money of her child, unlike the father. This is the correct view, the adopted view, and the view of the scholars of the (Hanbali) School. But it was also said that she has the right for that like the father.”
From this statement, it becomes known that there is a view that the mother is like the father; that she is permitted to take from the money of her son even if she is not in need of it.
To conclude: your mother has no right to take your phone without your permission according to the view of the majority of the scholars – including the four leading Schools of Fiqh – if she is not in need of it, but you have to fear Allaah in dealing with your mother, and you should be kind to her and endeavor to be dutiful to her and avoid what angers her, as her right upon you is great.
Allaah knows best.
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